The future of the PR industry, learn and embrace it

The big picture.

           As I ponder what the public relations industry will be like when I graduate in 2014, two words come to mind: review websites. It seems that we are in the middle of a cultural shift within the public relations world as we focus on not only gaining positive attention from big time reporters, but also the average joe walking down the street with his iPhone. The power is shifting, and we need to watch where it is going.

            Recently, many different review sites have emerged that allow anyone to post their personal opinions on organizations, products and services. Major sites like Yelp.com, AngiesList.com, Twitter, and the all powerful Facebook have each become hubs of consumer reviews that could potentially have major impact on an organization's reputation.

            And people are following. According to a 2012 Local Consumer Review Study, “Approximately 72% of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, while 52% said that positive online reviews make them more likely to use a local business.”

• More information on this study can be found on a blog post by Myles Anderson on Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/study-72-of-consumers-trust-online-reviews-as-much-as-personal-recommendations-114152

So, being in the business of reputation management, this trend leads me to believe that our target audiences have been greatly increased in size. We need to focus on everyone that has been a part of our organization and do what we can to keep them satisfied. A difficult task, but it will be highly beneficial to who we work for.

The Dark Side.

            With all of these sites providing the option of anonymity, what's to stop a communications professional from writing reviews for their organization and manufacturing false opinion? I guess what I need to do here is call upon all of you fellow strategic communicators to adhere to our ethical codes. Be smart about what you are doing on the internet. Sure, we want positive reviews to be the foundation for positive reputations, but cheating to get them will only reduce the quality of our profession.

The chess game of political PR

As a PR student, I definitely notice the role PR has in political elections. I think of more than the politics when candidates clash through political messages. I think many people have become used to the constant bombardment of messages that won’t stop until Election Day on November 6.  I don’t think people realize how much careful planning—to the smallest detail— goes into these messages though. Focusing specifically on the presidential election, there are a few things that really stick out to me regarding the PR aspect of the election. 

1) The number of people on the campaign staff

From the chief strategist all the way down to interns, the presidential campaigns have hundreds of employees with positions like manager, advisor, strategist, chief of advertising, and communications director among many others. I am always surprised to see how many people are buzzing behind the scenes to make sure the campaign says all the right things to maintain positive PR.

2) Money spent

According to Fox News, the amount of many now spent for campaigning between candidates for the election has surpassed two billion dollars. That is an insane amount of money! This sum speaks for itself. A willingness to spend that much money shows the importance of PR.

3) Gaffes

The most interesting part of political campaigns is the inevitable gaffes that occur during the course of a campaign. Candidates are human and they are bound to occasionally have a slip up while speaking. It’s ridiculous how the opposing campaign is waiting in ambush for the slightest slip of the tongue so that they can give the opponent negative PR. With so much money and planning going into the campaigns, it’s crazy that one small slip up can derail a campaign. The candidates spend hundreds of hours talking in front of people and they try to avoid such slip ups. Talk about pressure! When the criticism gaffes cause is responded to in order to save face for the campaign we see the same predictable cycle that occurs before every election. 

Here the top 5 gaffes from this election can be seen:  http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/13038.aspx

I definitely have a distinct feeling when it comes to the two PR campaigns. I find it disappointing that we now live in an age when negative PR for our opponent is more important than positive PR for our candidate. “Mudslinging” is frequent in the strategic messages of the current presidential candidates. It is exhausting to watch the PR strategies of the candidates unfold and get tangled up. Politics are often a bit of a mess and that is true for political PR as well. The two candidates just continue to criticize and respond to each other in a predictable way. It is very repetitive and makes me anxious for Election Day to arrive so I now longer have to listen to campaign messages.    

Jeffrey Pearson
University of Minnesota
Jour 3279
Blog Assignment 

Reverse mentoring my old boss on social media for his new start-up business

Recently, I connected with my old boss David, who had taken an early retirement package six months ago from the company I work for. Initially, I wanted to meet with him for lunch and share some of my work problems in hopes of gaining a little advice. What I didn’t expect, was that he was seeking my help and had questions about using social media and weather it could help launch his newly created small business doing studio recording.

It felt a little strange, as he had been a leader to me for years, and now he was turning to me for mentoring. First, he described his problem being that his business website was home-spun and lacks luster. Second, was that he wasn’t sure how Facebook or Twitter could do to help gain visibility of future clients to increase business. Lastly, he wanted to promote the artist he works with so that they could be recognized too.

The following were three tips I gave David in hopes of improving his small business through social media:

1. Tweet – More like, get a twitter (twitter.com) account and start using it. Facebook too, can be used as a channel of social media to create updates on current and upcoming events at the studio. Tagging an artist in a post like ‘#XYZ was in the studio and we are making progress’ can give David’s studio visibility to followers of that artist that maybe looking for future studio to record their own material.

2. Blogging software – I suggested that David migrate his home-brewed, static website to a dynamic blogging solution, such as WordPress (WordPress.com). His readers could make comments on postings that could then be tracked for views and create a connection to potential new clients. Other useful features he could utilize are themes, scheduled content management and all-browser compatible source code. These items could greatly improve David’s site appear and the amount of time he is spending on regular updates.

3. Content is king – David needs to be creating frequent posts to his blog on current events or things studio related to build interest for readers to come back. David could keep it interesting with pictures and/or short videos through youtube.com of highlights of his in-studio performances to share with readers. Re-posting artist bios and list major accomplishments would promote his abilities while easily add another posting.

These were just a sampling of suggestions, as by now I could see that David’s mind was full of new ideas ready to move his small business communications strategy forward. This connection could be the start of new chapter in our relationship as a reverse mentoring (http://wp.me/pCS6k-1Mf) or paying a favor back for all the years of learning he gave me.

Tell me what you might suggest to my old boss as ways to improve his social media presence? Have you been in a formal reverse mentoring role before?

Don’t Forget the Baby Boomers

One of the largest misconceptions revolving around social media today is how old the majority of users are. Most people that you ask will say that social media is most widely consumed by the younger generation. While that may have been true a decade-or-so ago, the tables have undoubtedly turned and Baby Boomers have shown to be online more then they ever have been before. As the Baby Boomers are beginning to retire, people age 50+ are driving more online traffic then most people account them for. Within the last year, social media use of people 50+ has grown by 100 percent, but what has caused the enormous spike in user growth?

One common answer: the want to reconnect. With the development and growth of Twitter and Facebook only surfacing within the past ten years, Baby Boomers are realizing the power that they now have to connect. Long lost high school friends and college colleagues are among the many online trolling Facebook looking to revive those lost connections. Baby Boomers are not just using the Internet to reconnect; another common use is to stay up-to-date with their “distant” children and grandchildren. Social media sites now allow these mature and magnificent people to view pictures and communicate with their kin who may be an hour away, or even halfway around the world.

Although Facebook may be one of the most common social media sites for people age 50+ to visit, Boomers also make up the greater percentage of Twitter users and contribute to its growth just as must as any other age group. With many companies adding social media to their marketing plan, they must be aware of the important markets to target. These Baby Boomers have the largest amount of disposable income and have the time and money to research and buy many of the newer products. It is important for businesses to realize that this is an important market segment and it may be worthwhile to spend a larger amount of their social media marketing directed toward this generation. Sites such as ThirdAge, http://www.thirdage.com/, are specifically design to target the Baby Boomer generation.

While the Baby Boomers were slower to adapt to the new technologies available on the Internet in the beginning, they are now embracing the social media world more then ever before. Market channels that were once an uncommon route for people age 50+ are now becoming one of the best ways to connect and put out information. 

Why branding yourself online is key to gaining exposure

There is no denying the fact that the growth of social media in the past decade has drastically affected the way college students, and recent college graduates have applied for ‘real-world’ jobs.  Current university upperclassmen, on average, have been a part of the Facebook community for around seven years.  Pictures from high school dances, and slumber parties are among the first pieces of the online brand we are creating for ourselves.  While we may not consider it entirely ‘fair’ for employers to snoop through our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, there is a way we can create a positive image, and effectively position our brands.  
 
Some sites to be most active on include LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  It is important to remember that a social media presence isn’t about quantity, but quality.  If you are constantly adding new accounts, and abandoning others you may lose content quality, and important followers.  
A high volume of posts won’t necessarily help your brand presence, especially if you only tweet when you are out with friends, and post constant political statuses.  It is important to show your versatility, and your knowledge of relevant topics.  This is not to say stop posting personal thoughts or ideas! Employers want to see that you are on top of new trends in PR, and that you have a personality, hobbies, and/or creativity.  Make sure you find the appropriate balance.

Promote yourself, and affectively post quality content.  Remember that each site is different.  Linking all of your tweets to your Facebook page may be efficient, but it’s not original.  Become interactive.  Position your posts to allow your followers to comment, or like your content.  Show your ability to obtain a following that appreciates your opinions or points of view.

Follow the businesses and organizations you are interested in, or are inspired by. Starting conversations with professionals is an easy way to create networks, and build relationships.
Create a LinkedIn account, and then actually use it!  This is probably your only chance at having an entirely professional social media outlet, so let it shine!  You can post articles, comment on group discussions, and create connections with some extremely valuable professionals.

However you approach your personal brand, remember that it will be viewed and analyzed by future employers, so put your best foot forward!

For more tips take a look at what PRNews has to say: http://www.prnewsonline.com/watercooler/5-Tips-to-Make-Your-Social-Media-Presence-Employer-Friendly_16652.html

Nicolette Seifert

University of Minnesota
Jour 3279
Blog Assignment  

The Right to Blog - Recognizing Internet Freedom and Censorship

We often take for granted how much freedom the Internet gives us. When I express my charged opinions via blogging or other social media networks, I don’t often think of how lucky we are to be privileged with something like the First Amendment. Even if I did, it’s difficult for me to imagine what life would be like without it. However, this is the case, and with websites such as Youtube and google, and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook gaining strong footholds in countries other than our own, disparities begin to emerge. Our freedom to openly criticize political figures and publicly question our government is something unique. This is especially true during the current presidential race, where I’m sure you’re hard-pressed to find a blog or social media
post that doesn’t contain political undertones.

Yet, in other established countries around the world, the Internet is closely monitored and often censored by governments. Take the Chinese government who implements substantial political and religious filtering in order to quell public controversy. Or Iran who has proposed a national Internet, which would increase governmental control over individual Internet users(Rininsland theguardian). In fact, while the social media and blogging world of the US comes alive during political events such as the presidential race, the Chinese government actually increases Internet censorship. A recent article from Bloomberg Businessweek even shows how China is using internet filtering to cover up the increasing economic gap between rich and poor - Great Internet Firewall of China.

The point I’m getting at is how lucky we are to have a First Amendment in the internet
age. Since we do have it – take advantage of it. Post controversial material, push your opinion
onto others and instigate anarchist internet behavior. There are too many Internet users who
are inhibited already. It’s not fair to them to tiptoe around when we have the ability to criticize
prominent political figures without the fear of being thrown in jail. The best way to show how
much we value our online freedom is to use it.

Robert Ankeny
University of Minnesota
Jour 3279
Blog Assignment